Information Gatheringusernamessocial-networksosintusername-search

Sherlock

Sherlock finds usernames across over 300 social networks by querying unique URLs provided by site designers. It determines username availability based on site responses.

Description

Sherlock is a tool designed to locate usernames across a vast array of social networks, including platforms like Apple Developer, Arduino, Docker Hub, GitHub, GitLab, Facebook, BitCoinForum, CNET, IFTTT, Instagram, PlayStore, PyPI, Scribd, Telegram, TikTok, and Tinder. It relies on the assumption that sites provide unique URLs for registered usernames, querying these to check for existing claims.

Use cases include OSINT investigations, reconnaissance, and verifying username consistency across platforms. The tool supports checking single or multiple usernames, with options for output formatting and proxy usage to enhance privacy or bypass restrictions.

Sherlock is particularly useful in cybersecurity for gathering information on targets by identifying their presence on various online services.

How It Works

Sherlock queries unique URLs designated for usernames on over 300 social networks. It analyzes the HTTP response from each site to determine if the username is claimed. The tool uses Python libraries like requests for HTTP operations, supporting features like Tor routing, proxies, and timeouts for reliable querying.

Installation

bash
sudo apt install sherlock

Flags

-h, --helpshow this help message and exit
--versionDisplay version information and dependencies.
--verbose, -v, -d, --debugDisplay extra debugging information and metrics.
--folderoutput, -fo FOLDEROUTPUTIf using multiple usernames, the output of the results will be saved to this folder.
--output, -o OUTPUTIf using single username, the output of the result
--torUse Tor for requests
--unique-torUse a new Tor circuit for each request
--csvOutput to CSV file
--xlsxOutput to Excel file
--site SITE_NAMEOnly check specific site
--proxy PROXY_URLUse proxy server
--timeout TIMEOUTHTTP request timeout
--print-foundOnly print found usernames

Examples

Show the help message and usage information
sherlock -h
Check a single username across all supported social networks
sherlock username
Check multiple usernames across social networks
sherlock user1 user2 user3
Check similar usernames replacing {?} with '_', '-', or '.'
sherlock user?me
Check username using Tor for anonymity
sherlock username --tor
Save results for single username to a file
sherlock username --output results.txt
Check usernames from file and save results to specified folder
sherlock usernames.txt --folderoutput /path/to/folder
Display version information and dependencies
sherlock --version
Updated 2026-04-16kali.org ↗